Ji-wan Nam, Gounee Yang

Global Economic News

HANJIN Heavy Industries announced that it has succeeded in reentering the market by signing a contract with a European trade shipping company to build four 5,500 TEU-class container ships worth a total of US$270 million. It is the first order for merchant ships since Hanjin Heavy Industries’ M&A.

It has been six years that Hanjin Heavy Industries won the order for a general cargo ship, not a naval ship or a special purpose ship, since 2015.

Since it signed a voluntary arrangement with creditors in 2016, it has been focusing on special ships such as naval ships, government ships, and probe ships. It was a choice to focus on businesses with strengths in a situation where there was not much work due to the slump in the shipbuilding industry.

As the global shipbuilding market has recently recovered and new orders for merchant ships have increased, Hanjin Heavy Industries has prepared to reenter the market by developing the latest ships and eco-friendly technologies based on the judgment that it secured strong competitiveness in terms of technology, quality, delivery and productivity.